Living Oceans Society: Oil Spill Model

What would happen if there were an oil spill on our coast? To find out, we developed this Oil Spill Model that shows how spills could affect Canada’s Pacific North Coast ecosystems and communities. See spill scenarios from tankers, cruise ships, container ships and drilling platforms. You’ll be surprised how quickly the oil washes into seabird habitat, humpback whale migration routes, shores where herring spawn, and First Nations villages.

In the model, black areas represents where oil is predicted to spread and gray areas represent where the oil could go given slight variations in winds, tides and currents. The oil spill animation takes into account the amount and type of oil spilled and predicts its movement based on oceanographic conditions such as water currents, tides and winds. It was built using leading edge computer modeling software and the most up to date oceanographic data available.